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Kerala Lemon Pickle - Naranga Achar

There was a time , when I thought I could never make pickle.; later the very thought changed to , okie i could, but never would I achieve the same gratification with mine , compared to my grandma's and mom's. Every time N asked me for some home made pickle, i found myself to be in a "pickle". But that is such an old story , now that i have mastered the art of pickling :)

Remember the Boost, Complan glass jars with pickle on the centre of the dining table back home??

It was such a regular scene in most of the households and my home was no different. Ranging from Fish,meat, lemon, mango , nellikka, mixed vegetable , lololicka, .....there would be one on the dining table and one in the pantry waiting for its turn, thinking "mera number kab aayega?".... No meal would pass without a touch of ginger - garlic - curry leaf overloaded pickle and no liquor party would start without a pickle for "thottunakkan".......

I used to get repeated scoldings for taking all the gravy and oil and for not using spoon , but fingers to take it out. But now there is nobody to scold me :(... Every time i give a retrospective glance to those times, every single thing has a story to tell , and feel so good with an emotional overflow to it :)

All the blah, blah apart, today's is my kuttanadan grandma's recipe. I know there are a zillion ways to make even the simple Kerala lemon pickle. Its not my contention that this is the authentic one , but for me , this is "authentic" since i grew up eating this :)

Recipe for Lemon/ Lime pickle - Cheru naranga Achar

Ingredients:-

Cheru naranga / Yellow Lemon - 10 ( the grocery store here has lemon double the size of it back home, so i used only 5 lemons)

Salt - to taste + a pinch of sugar

Gingelly oil / Nallenna / Sesame oil - 2 table spoon + 2 table spoon

Mustard seeds - 1.5 tea spoon

Fenugreek seeds - 1 tea spoon

Garlic julienned - 10 cloves ( you can add more if you love the bite of it in your pickle)

Sarah,this pickle has such an instant appeal to it,and one tends to overlook the initial 4 days of preservation in lemon,sugar & salt. I remember I was strictly instructed to wait for atleast a good 15 days before I could touch the mango pickle or for that matter the lemon pickle which my mother made at home. You make this one sound so easy and instant and the killer looks are tempting me, to go for it:)

The lime pickle looks amazing Sarah...it has the same looks like my grandmom's pickle and so bookmarking it. I used to really love her lime pickle just so perfect haven't found that flavour and taste in any of the store bought ones. This is a must try, amazing pics and lime is my favourite. Thks for sharing this wonderful recipe...now guess even I can try making pickle at home.

This pickle looks exactly like my grand mothers.I believe you have a lot of kaipunyam sarah.Lovely clicks and i am really tempted to make this at home. this reminded me of the small packet of lime pickle we get in small shops in kerala.

Hi sarah My name is Nithya and I am writing from Dubai.I am a daily visitor of your website and i like it very much.It is like the first thing I look when I open my computer. I love all your recipes, especially the amazing photos. It is always a hearty feast to be here. Can you add more prawns recipes, if you do not mind. I am a big fan of prawn. Your beef recipes are always a hit with my guests. Recently i tried your varuthu aracha beef curry and puttu and was totally in loveKeep going the good spirit.Thank you,Nithya

Could I make this pickle using green lemons (i bought it from the indian stores)..? I bought 20 of them to make this pickle as I saw this recipe in your site ..and then only started reading your recipe and it says to make with yellow lemon

@ Anon..You are talking about Key lime right?You can use the same recipe , but when i do it i make slight changes to it like 1) Steam the green lime for 12-15 minutes.2) Keep it in a glass jar with salt and a pinch of sugar for 5 days to a week....

Hi We made this Lime pickle following step by step this recipe sara. It come out so good sara. tasted like how our amma used to do it. Thanks for the nice authentic kerala recipes you put up in your vazhayila

Firstly, let me start by congratulating you on a truly naadan blog! i was looking for a lime pickle recipe for a while now coz I'm addicted to pickles, he he!! Thanks for this recipe. i will definately be trying it over the weekend and i shall let you know the results. I have created a new blog and have mentioned the link below. Please do check it out and leave ure feedback. Do tell u're friends and family about it too. Keep up the good work and God bless!

This is the second time 'm making Naranga Achar based on ur recipe that too with 50 Limes.Just added all the ingredients 5 times. Both time it came out really good and I got lots of good comments ...Thanks for this recipe!